slave
a person who is the property of and wholly subject to another and forced to provide unpaid labor.
a person entirely under the domination of some influence or person: She was a slave to her own ambition.
a drudge: a housekeeping slave.
a slave ant.
Photography. a subsidiary flash lamp actuated through its photoelectric cell when the principal flash lamp is discharged.
Machinery, Computers. a device or process under control of or repeating the actions of a similar device or process.: Compare master (def. 21).
to work like a slave; drudge.
to engage in the slave trade; procure, transport, or sell slaves.
Machinery, Computers. to connect (a device) to a master as its slave.
Archaic. to enslave.
Origin of slave
1Other words for slave
Other words from slave
- slaveless, adjective
- slavelike, adjective
- pro·slave, adjective
- sem·i·slave, noun
Words Nearby slave
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use slave in a sentence
While the finds from the genetic study are largely supported by established narratives and historic records of the transatlantic slave trade, there were also inconsistencies.
Why so many African Americans have Nigerian ancestry | Uwagbale Edward-Ekpu | August 10, 2020 | QuartzLawmakers, in fact, passed the Fugitive slave Act two years after statehood, creating a legal mechanism for the return of slaves to their owners.
Sacramento Report: Reparations Bill Marches Forward | Sara Libby and Jesse Marx | July 31, 2020 | Voice of San DiegoFor the first half of the 19th century, the Senate was a bulwark for the South, with an equal balance of slave and free states despite the growing Northern population advantage.
The Senate Has Always Favored Smaller States. It Just Didn’t Help Republicans Until Now. | Lee Drutman (drutman@newamerica.org) | July 29, 2020 | FiveThirtyEightThe Republican Party was the party of Lincoln, the emancipated slaves.
Should America (and FIFA) Pay Reparations? (Ep. 426) | Stephen J. Dubner | July 16, 2020 | FreakonomicsAccording to various estimates, almost 17,000 people among the peak 50,000 population were slaves – who not only worked in households but also in the harbor and storage facilities.
Ostia Antica: Reconstruction and History of The Harbor City of Ancient Rome | Dattatreya Mandal | April 14, 2020 | Realm of History
By giving an artistic veto to a madman, we submit to the mindset of a slave.
The Sony Hack and America’s Craven Capitulation To Terror | David Keyes | December 19, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTIn the Bible, Moses does kill a guy—the Egyptian slave master who is beating an Israelite to death.
Christian Bale: One Man's Moses Is Another Man's Terrorist | Candida Moss, Joel Baden | December 7, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThis year McQueen picked up three Oscars (including best picture) for his third motion picture 12 Years A slave.
For the next hour and half I was the willing sex slave of a semi-professional Master I had met through a friend.
Within the black community itself, the slave mentality is still being battled.
Gallinas, the noted slave factory on the west of Africa, purchased by the Liberian republic.
The Every Day Book of History and Chronology | Joel MunsellIf he is indifferent to my happiness, and unjust to the woman I love, I will no longer work like a slave for him.
The World Before Them | Susanna MoodieAlthough the number of slaves in the Brazils is very great, there is nowhere such a thing as a slave-market.
A Woman's Journey Round the World | Ida PfeifferIn Brazil, the slave-trade exists in full force; in Cuba, it is unmitigated in its extent and horrors.
In 1813, some disputes arose between the court of Rio and England on account of the slave trade.
Journal of a Voyage to Brazil | Maria Graham
British Dictionary definitions for slave
/ (sleɪv) /
a person legally owned by another and having no freedom of action or right to property
a person who is forced to work for another against his will
a person under the domination of another person or some habit or influence: a slave to television
a person who works in harsh conditions for low pay
a device that is controlled by or that duplicates the action of another similar device (the master device)
(as modifier): slave cylinder
(intr often foll by away) to work like a slave
(tr) an archaic word for enslave
Origin of slave
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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